If you are suffering from abdominal pain, gas, and bloating, or yellow skin, you might have a deficiency of bile salts or bile. And you might need bile salt supplements to address the problem.
Now, understand that bile is primarily a digestive “juice” containing bile salts. Your liver is responsible for making this liquid. Aside from bile salts, bile also contains some other substances. Working together, bile salts and these substances break down the fats from your diet.
When your liver makes bile, your body would store it until when you need it for digestion. After eating, your bile duct would open to allow bile, as well as other secretions and enzymes, to facilitate digestion.
But bile will be almost useless except for the bile salts in it. They are the major organic component found inside bile. And they have amazing functions in the body. We will tell you how they work as you read on.
If your bile is dysfunctional, it might alter your liver and gallbladder. It could also affect your skin and guts. Bile dysfunctions also cause inflammation and lead to a buildup of toxins and fats. Its consequences are not in any way desirable.
But the simple solution to this problem could be as simple as taking supplemental bile salts. You might, however, be wondering, how do bile salts supplements work? Why are they even so important? The answers to these questions are many-sided. But we would try to simplify them for you in this article.
Bile Salt Deficiency
There is no need for you to take a bile salt supplement except there is a deficiency. As such, let’s strut by explaining what could happen if you are deficient in bile salts. The symptoms and associated conditions are as follows:
1. Abdominal tightness and bloating
If you don’t have enough bile salts, it would be difficult for your body to digest fats. This can, in turn, cause tightness and bloating in your abdomen.
2. Digestive problems
When fats go through your guts undigested due to a deficiency of bile salts, you might experience digestive problems. These include stomach cramps, diarrhea, and gas.
3. Gallstones
If you don’t have enough bile to help dissolve gallstones, you might suffer from gallbladder symptoms. These include abdominal pain and tension, as well as nausea.
4. Jaundice
Without bile salts, your body won’t be able to excrete bilirubin. This can cause jaundice, a condition where your skin and eyes turn yellow due to bilirubin buildup.
5. Heartburn
If you don’t have enough bile salts to help you neutralize acidic foods, these foods might give you heartburn symptoms.
6. Vitamin deficiencies
A deficiency of bile salts deficiency means your body would not adequately absorb fat-soluble vitamins. So you might also become deficient in these vitamins. Fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins E, A, D, and K.
7. Low cholesterol
If your cholesterol level is below 170, it might mean that you are deficient in bile acids/salts.
8. Hormonal imbalance
Steroid hormones are made from fats. So if your body can’t digest and utilize fats properly because of a deficiency in bile salts, you might suffer some sort of hormonal imbalance.
9. Liver problem
If your body is not creating or releasing bile salts, it could lead to the synthesis of certain harmful chemicals. These chemicals are usually toxic and can damage your liver.
Bile Salts Supplements: How Do They Work?
To know the way these supplements work, you must first understand the role they play in the body. Essentially, they help the enzymes in your body break fats down to become fatty acids. Your body needs these acids for many bodily functions.
As we mentioned before, your liver makes bile. But then, it would travel to your gallbladder for storage until food nutrients are available for digestion. So when you eat, your gallbladder squeezes out bile to facilitate the breakdown of nutrients before it gets into your guts.
What bile salts do is that it mixes fats with bile components. These components include water and electrolytes, as well as some other organic compounds. That’s why bile is almost useless without bile salts.
Without bile salts, the other components of bile would not mix with fats. And as such, your body would not be able to break them down. They will then crystalize and form bile stones.
We have just explained the way the natural use of bile salts works. But then, in some cases, a person might have a health condition that makes bile salts unavailable or inadequate. If you have any such condition, you would need to take bile salt supplements.
You can get these supplements from local vitamin or health stores. You can also get them from online retailers. They work by helping to emulsify lipids just like natural bile salts would.
The word, “emulsify” may sound new to you. It simply means to mix the lipids or fats with other bile components. That way, it initiates lipid or fats breakdown and restores the body’s cholesterol-lowering effects.
The usual way to take bile salt supplements is during a meal. That way, they come in handy when your body needs to digest the food. They would aid not only absorption but also digestion. They are especially essential for breaking down fat-soluble vitamins and fats.
It is best to go for lower doses if you are just starting to use bile salt supplements. Then monitor the way it makes you feel after eating to know if you need and can tolerate a higher dose.
Benefits of Using Bile Salts Supplement
- It would eliminate toxic compounds and cholesterol from your body
- Helps fight toxins and infectious agents
- Promotes liver and gallbladder function
- Helps to dissolve existing gallstones inside the gallbladder, as well as prevent new ones from forming
- Supports the breakdown of fats and other nutrients, as well as their absorption
- Rids off harmful gut bacteria by disrupting their membranes
- Could help regulate blood glucose levels
- Triggers glutathione release. Glutathione is the most powerful antioxidant in your body.
- Eliminates bilirubin and prevents jaundice
Bile salts supplements are generally for those who have a health condition that causes a deficiency in the salts. You should not take them except your physician says you should.